Talking Points for Innovate Public Schools

1. Meaningful Interpretation of Data for Small Subgroups

Proficiency rates are meaningful when the number of students in the
reported group (N) is greater than 20 and multiple years are reported.
Reporting in percentages for groups below 20 can be misleading due to large
fluctuations resulting from changes in a few students (see the example
below). Moreover, the district emphasizes trends rather than a snapshot from
a single point in time.

SBAC ELA Performance of African-American Students at Sherman Elementary School

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
% and N % and N % and N
Total N Total N Total N
Proficient Proficient Proficient
13 38% (5) 18 61% (11) 14 50% (7)

Of the 25 elementary schools reported by Innovate Public Schools

for SBAC ELA, 8 schools had fewer than 20 African-American
students in 2015-16.

2. Successes within the District

We have many highlights and successes within the school district based on
consistent growth over time across both content areas. For example, African-
American students at Muir Elementary grew over three years in SBAC ELA:
5.6% in 2014-15 to 14.6% in 2015-16, and to 26.5% in 2016-17. The same
trend was also seen for Math: 9.4% in 2014-15 to 12.5% in 2015-16, and to
45.5% in 2016-17.

The district will continue to study the conditions and practices underlying the
success stories at this and other similar schools. With a deeper
understanding, we will be able to scale up and spread the successful
practices to other sites.

3. Uneven Performance in Charter Schools

Charter schools do not uniformly and consistently have high performance
over time and across subgroups. Further, the number of students within a
subgroup fluctuates across the years. KIPP Bayview Academy had 171
African-American students in 2014-15, 148 in 2015-16, and 127 in 2016-17.
Those students’ performance on SBAC ELA was 41% in 2014-15, 57% in
2015-16 (as highlighted in Innovate Public Schools’ report), and fell to 46% in
2016-17.
 SBAC ELA at Select Charter Schools

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

School
Subgroup Tested Prof % Tested Prof % Tested Prof %
Name
Edison
Charter All 400 23 436 45 459 48
Academy
Edison
Charter AA 42 16 44 37 40 40
Academy
Edison
Charter Latino 332 22 359 45 377 48
Academy

Gateway
All 121 75 107 75 117 75
High
Gateway
AA 17 40 15 60 12 50
High
Gateway
Latino 43 69 30 53 42 69
High

Gateway
All 307 52 307 59 310 57
Middle
Gateway
AA 35 32 32 28 46 30
Middle
Gateway
Latino 92 33 100 45 110 24
Middle

Kipp
Bayview All 276 46 288 64 261 56
Academy
Kipp
Bayview AA 171 41 148 57 127 46
Academy
Kipp
Bayview Latino 65 48 91 71 92 61
Academy

Kipp San All 362 41 357 51 352 48

Francisco
Bay
Kipp San
Francisco AA 69 17 67 41 55 42
Bay
Kipp San
Francisco Latino 226 42 235 52 241 46
Bay